Can pythons safely eat and digest children?

Children terrified as python eats boy
November 25 2002
By Jane Flanagan
Johannesburg



A six-metre African rock python has eaten a boy near Durban - the first recorded "man-eating" incident for the species.

For three hours other children hid up mango trees near the township of Lamontville, too terrified to flee, as the snake first trapped the 10-year-old and squeezed the life out of him, then swallowed him whole.

Police and snake experts found no trace of the child, or his clothing. They found nothing but flattened grass and a trail leading down to a stream.

The incident last week prompted widespread panic among the township's 50,000 residents and great fascination among herpetologists across the country.

Eleven-year-old Khaye Buthelezi, who saw the extraordinary attack, was persuaded to revisit the site on Saturday.


His eyes darting nervously for signs of the python, Khaye showed where his companion had been gathering fallen fruit when taken by the giant snake.

"The snake quickly wrapped itself around his body, pinning his arms to his side. He didn't cry or scream and neither did the rest of us - we didn't want the snake to come and take us as well," Khaye said.

"The snake squeezed tighter and tighter around him until his eyes closed and his head fell back so I thought he was dead or had fainted. Then the snake's mouth opened very, very wide and started to swallow him from the head down - his clothes and everything. It all took about three hours because it was dark when we saw it slither away and we finally came down from the tree."

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/24/1037697985131.html?oneclick=true